Mini golf has been a popular game for many years, with courses typically having 9 or 18 holes. Scoring is usually written manually by each player, which slows the game and sometimes bores the players. There is a need for an inexpensive system that can be readily added to existing mini golf courses, without rebuilding of the courses, which can automatically display the scores on the club to speed up the game and increase the player's enjoyment.
The play includes a number of structures placed on grounds where the public may visit for sport and entertainment. Each structure generally consists of a 12″ square fiber or rubber tee mat, with a generally synthetic length of material used as a “green”, ending in an area where a golf hole is embedded. Short vertical barriers of wood or other hard material are used along the sides of the “green” area, to prevent balls from leaving the preferred area of play. The “green” area may be straight or curved, or sloped at different sections, or may contain obstacles which must be circumvented or played through by the player's putting skill, to achieve progress of the ball from the tee into the hole. Individual players may play for practice, or several may play the course together as a group in competition with each other for achieving the lowest score of all holes played. The course may consist of any number of tee-green-hole combination structures, generally called holes. The most common number is 18 holes, although more or less may be used, depending on course space available. For illustration herein, a 9-hole course will be assumed. Each playing hole will be assigned a PAR score, which is the expected number of putting strokes that a proficient player will take to putt the ball from the tee into the hole. At the final hole, the ball is generally captured and held in a holding area, for its ultimate collection by an attendant to be used again by subsequent players. In its present form, each player manually transcribes the number of strokes taken at each hole onto a scorecard, to allow him/her to compare scores with others in the group, to determine which player has won the contest by the least number of aggregate scores recorded at each hole on the course.
Several U.S. patents are concerned with the field of the invention, such as:
Nicholls et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,052, shows a golf course hole-in-one detector.
McEvoy, U.S. Pat. No. 1,840,406, shows a mechanical stroke counter attached to a golf club. The counter is augmented when a ball is struck.
Reising, U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,389, discloses golf balls which include bar codes for identification of the individual balls. A computer 118 is connected to a plurality of sensors.
Valentino, U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,622, shows a golf ball having a metal center which is magnetically detectable.
Wang et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,106, shows radio location of golf course positions using different radio frequencies.
Gordon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,221, shows a magnetic golf ball. The magnetic properties of the ball are not used for sensing.
Jetton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,879, shows cables running to a central computer from various golf holes having golf ball sensors.
Golf clubs with impact sensors are disclosed by Wilhelm, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,850, and by Allen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,236. Both employ piezoelectric sensors in the golf club head to register impact against golf balls. The sensors do not appear to distinguish between impacts with golf balls and other objects.
Other U.S. Pat. Nos. are: U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,106 to Wang et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,436,076 to Barthol; U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,692 to Woodward et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,992 to Blood et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,039 to Barricks et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,651 to Little.
The prior art does not disclose any device which allows automatic score-keeping interactive with game players, which can be readily added to existing courses at low additional cost.